# Saudi Arairbase?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arairbase/186479>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 6, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arairbase/186479 "2003-07-06T01:11:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arairbase/186479/1 "2003-07-06T01:11:52Z")

</div>

A friend of mine online says he’s in intelligence for the U.S. military (he told me the branch, but I forget). Needless to say, such a claim makes me curious. A while ago he told me that was being deployed for about 6 months and he couldn’t tell me where he was going (that seems reasonable, right?).

Anyway, he got back and I asked where he had been, and he said in Tabuk, an airbase in Saudi Arabia about 50-100 miles from the Jordanian border.

Does such an airbase exist? Would intel personelle be needed there?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arairbase/186479/2 "2003-07-06T01:15:00Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Speaker for the Dead \*
> 
> Does such an airbase exist? Would intel personelle be needed there?

Yep and yep.

[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/tabuk.htm](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/tabuk.htm)

- Tamerlane

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@ski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ski)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arairbase/186479/3 "2003-07-06T01:18:17Z")

</div>

1. Yes
2. Yes, assumedly. Intel people are needed most anywhere they’re launching missions from.

[http://www.msnbc.com/modules/new\_battlefield/saudiarabia.asp](http://www.msnbc.com/modules/new_battlefield/saudiarabia.asp) shows Tabuk on the map.

Google for more.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arairbase/186479/4 "2003-07-06T01:22:32Z")

</div>

Thanks. The details made me a lot less suspicious than if he had said something like “This base in the middle east somewhere.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-arairbase/186479/5 "2003-07-06T02:35:23Z")

</div>

Can’t imagine why he would be so hush-hush. Just overly-dramatic I guess.